Property: home sweet home

Showing posts with label home sweet home. Show all posts

Thursday, July 19, 2012

So this is embarrassing

Hey All,
You know when you neglect to do something, sometimes that neglected thing becomes practically all you can think about? And sometimes even though anxiety is overwhelming you about the thing you haven't done you deliberately continue not doing it. Well, that is what this blog has been for me for the last nine months. I know I said I would talk about getting laid off and all the changes that brought to my life, but honestly it is an old story at this point and if you don't already know what happened then you probably don't need to.

What I will say is last October I celebrated my birthday at Lauren's cottage. I was in a perfect place, (for what that is worth) in my life. Happy, in love, working for a great company and preparing to take the next step towards settling in Canada, becoming a Permanent Resident. I know I was happy because while we were up at Stoney Lake, in a moment of solitude, I thought to myself,

"Enjoy this, it wont last."

Now I wasn't being morbid. I was simply acknowledging the evolving nature of life. And I'm glad I did. Because as many of those joys crashed around me - the job, Permanent Residency and my general sense of stability, I've stayed afloat. I've tried to accept the changes and play a role in influencing them joyfully. And guess what, it's working.

But, for a while now that crisis mode has dampened my creativity here on the Property. It's a shame, but I just felt false blogging about the cultural goings-on outside me, when there was such a strong emotional storm happening on the inside. Nor did I know how to gracefully post about my disappointments and fears. Nobody wants to read that for long. Am I right? Well, listen, I am really sorry about it, and I am gonna get back to it because LIFE IS STILL AWESOME and there are a lot of adventures ahead. I don't want you to miss any of them so I am gonna keep you better informed. And who knows maybe I will let you peak behind the curtain of the last nine months it's been pretty epic.

Sunday, April 1, 2012

Sunday Baking

Made biscuits this morning. I used the basic recipe but modified it a bit to suit what I had on-hand

2 3/4 cups brown rice flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
1 1/2 teaspoon ground pepper

Combine ingredients in a bowl. In a separate bowl gently combine

3 ounces of your favourite grated cheese with
8 tablespoons of cold cubed butter.

It is best to divide the tablespoons in half before gently mixing into the grated cheese. Add the flour mixture to the cheese and butter, again coarsely mixing.

Now the recipe calls for 3/4 cup buttermilk, which I love but didn't have so instead I used,

1 cup of Greek yogurt and
2 tablespoons of soy milk.

I slowly poured the yogurt and milk into the flour and cheese and gently combine. Roll the dough onto a floured surface. Add extra milk, one tablespoon at a time if needed. form the dough into a rectangle and slice with a knife in 1 1/2 inch thick pieces.

Place your biscuits onto a cookie sheet covered with parchment paper and bake for 20 minutes in a 400 degree oven.

For the last ten minutes I added extra grated cheese to the top of the biscuits. They should be golden brown. Serve immediately!

Weekend Arrangements

Spring has arrived at the Cedarvale Cottage, in the form of wild white roses, white lilies, hyacinth and spring greenery.

Lauren's roses and lilies are opening.

For the larger living room arrangement I added onto the theme with a big beautiful hydrangea, and those gorgeous white cranberries. I also used larger yellow lilies for this arrangement.

A small snapped stem makes a perfect bathroom bouquet. One small stem of yellow lilies, and a rose set in a quirky shot glass will keep the bathroom smelling fresh all week.